Stalock, Pelech up from Worcester — and McLellan’s Shark-centric thoughts on end of Chicago streak

OK, back on the job with the opening faceoff against the St. Louis Blues only about 90 minutes away.

The Sharks are shuffling players again, but before we get to that, a quick diversion:

I asked Todd McLellan this morning for his thoughts on that Chicago Blackhawks streak coming to an end last night in Colorado. He said he was disappointed and you’ve got to like his perspective on things:

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“I’d have loved to see them finish 48-0. We’re done playing against them,” the Sharks coach said. “I would have loved to see them run it out for the rest of the year and take points away from people who are competing at our level.

“You can say anything you want about it. It’s an incredible streak. They played very hard, they played very fast, they got contributions from everybody. They deserved the wins they earned.”

Yeah, I know. He’s conceding that San Jose won’t overtake Chicago for top seed in the West. Just shows he’s living in the real world with the rest of us.

*****Much of these roster moves were telegraphed yesterday, but we’ll treat it as news anyway.

The Sharks recalled Alex Stalock from Worcester to back up Antti Niemi as Thomas Greiss is day-to-day with a sore neck after that collision in Calgary that somehow wasn’t goalie interference. San Francisco Bulls goalie Thomas Heemskerk, who filled in for Greiss at practice Friday, was shipped to Worcester to replace Stalock and no word so far on who replaces Heemskerk with the Bulls.

(UPDATE: Advised that Bulls using San Jose resident Dave Guy as their back-up tonight. Guy often out there with Sharks during the pre-training camp “captain’s skates” that begin in August).

San Jose also recalled tough guy Matt Pelech from Worcester, having sent Bracken Kearns in the other direction Friday.

Tommy Wingels was also activated from IR, where Marty Havlat now resides. McLellan said both Havlat and Brent Burns are getting closer to game-ready status, but not there yet.

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McLellan also said that while Wingels definitely will be in the lineup this afternoon against the St. Louis Blues, a decision on Pelech remains to be made.

Here’s how the lines looked at practice yesterday and a pretty good indication how they’ll look today.

Kennedy-Marleau-Pavelski

Couture-Thornton-Wingels

Sheppard-Gomez-Clowe

Desjardins-Handzus-Galiardi/Pelech

****The Sharks are going to be facing a pair of teams feeling a lot better about themselves than they are over the next three games.

First there’s St. Louis, which had lost three of four games before getting healthy Thursday night with a 6-1 victory in Phoenix.

“A lot of things went well for them that night,” McLellan said this morning. “They got some good goaltending, they scored six, their power plays been dangerous.

“They’re an elite team,” he continued. “People picked them to contend for a Stanley Cup. We’re well aware of that and we’ll have our hands full. We were fortunate enough to win in their building, but they’ve had our number here and we’d like to fix that as well.”

(That win in St. Louis, if you’ll recall, was just a little bit tainted by the fact the Blues arrived home from Vancouver about 14 hours later than expected and only 13 hours before the start of that night’s game against the Sharks)

Then it’s off to Colorado for the second half of back-to-backs against the Avalanche team that whipped Chicago 6-2 to end the Blackhawks streak at 24 games to start a season picking up at least one point.

Then it’s on to St. Louis for a Tuesday night rematch.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Use the right mix of gatorade or whatever to make teal colored margaritas = sharkarita.

http://Workingthecorners Sharkita

I think I need a Sharkarita.

Clemenza

Inexcusable.

nemo31

brilliant job of blowing a game.

Matthew

Let’s see if Remenda can sugar coat this one

Pete

Way to pull Nemo.

nemo31

listen to Hedican sugar coat the whole thing

Matthew

Uh oh…. Hedi is going soft..

I can’t believe how many slow guys we have. Amazing. Not trying to overstate, but we appear to be the slowest team in the NHL

Teejay

What a miserable bunch!

The Sharks did do one thing good today. They gave an excellent lesson on how to blow a 2 goal lead in a minute and twenty seconds.

Section 219

Another great ‘character loss’ for the Sharks. Nothing like letting a team battle back 2 goals in the 3rd and then blowing it OT. Classic.

nemo31

now Drew takes over to sugar coat and defend TMac

Pete

The sharks played their usual great 2 halves and were inexplicably stunned when informed that hockey has 3 periods.

nemo31

funny how Drew went from saying right after the 2nd goal that it was a great shot by Sobotka to then saying after Nemo was pulled that he should have been pulled because that 2nd goal was all of a sudden Nemo’s fault. The 3rd goal was soft, but he was screened by a Blues player.

Matthew

I’m really surprised at how fast and how far this team has fallen….

There are a few high dollar players that are simply not NHL talent at this point. Clowe first and foremost, but Handzus, Murray, even Boyle who I have always liked.

The team is way, way down, don’t seem to believe in each other, don’t appear to buy in to the roster, maybe aren’t executing TMac’s plan, must be upset at what Wilson has done to this roster…..and unfortunately are in the playoff hunt, so we can hear Wilson tell us ” anything can happen” by getting in, and tell the story of last years Kings…

This is no fun

john

Hedican is full of crap….period

http://Workingthecorners Sharkita

Third period is awful for us. I remember when 3rd period use to be money for us.

sched

Joe T mumbles his usual “let’s move on” stuff. He was standing out there during that long keep in the sharks zone right before the winner in OT. another minus for him

Matthew

This say seem counterintuitive, and I swear I am a Sharks fan forever, but I almost hope they don’t make the playoffs so that the team is forced to reevaluate this poorly constructed roster…

Very disappointed that someone put a scare into Hedican. He was my last hope

GSDubs

This is not an “anything can happen once they get in the playoffs” hockey team. This isn’t the Giants or 49ers. IF they, in fact, do get it – and that’s getting more tenuous by the day – we KNOW what is going to happen. The only thing getting in the playoffs will accomplish is maybe saving some jobs.

http://Workingthecorners Sharkita

I am sure Joe is a nice guy, but his not a leader. Nemo needs a rest.

sched

There was way too much laughing on the Sharks bench during that early part of the game, including coaches and players, and that does not go over well with opponents, that is bulletin board material for the opponents, and they came back.

That is one reason teams don’t want Gomez, he is a clown who is not serious about the task at hand. Mtl and the Rangers can attest to that.

Jerry27

And did anyone notice during the 3rd period that Drew R said “Logan is taking over the leadership of the team” ??

That sounds like friction in the dressing room between the old guard and the young bucks. No wonder this team is schizo.

Matthew

I know after a loss, fans tend to be too fatalistic… But I think after this portion of the season, the reality keeps getting hammered home… We all know what this team is. Perhaps Wilson and TMac don’t have the luxury of admitting to that fact, but I sure hope they stop themselves from giving out any more public positives.

The team is not good… It is the worst Sharks team in many seasons, and with no silver lining ( as in the maturity of a young core).

They are who we think they are. C’mon baseball. I’m done

Lisa

75 Jerry27
A great young hockey player with bushels of talent, yes.
A popular player, yes.
But a leader? No. Not IMHO.

Matthew

Jerry, I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I always figure Drew is spouting what the team wants him too.. He’s always making negative comments about Thornton, both direct and indirect. Plus, his unfettered puppy dog and unicorn analysis of this flawed team is tiring.

Lisa

I was so happy and hopeful for the first 2 periods. I should have known better. 40 minute players that’s what they are. This team is a heart breaker.

Jerry27

Yes, I agree that there is a leadership problem on the Sharks, and you have to wonder about the old guard being in conflict with the younger guys as far as taking charge and playing a certain way.

hondr

They got a point. And to a pretty good team that’s beat the Sharkys like a drum recently. Come on down off the ledge, jumpers.

That Gomez (who is still a bum) goal was all Clowe. They should give Clowe the goal and both assists on that play. That’s how you play hockey, baby. So that’s good news.

And they got a PP goal, finally. That was a cannon shot, and not to jinx him, but Irwin looked like a certain recently retired Detroit defenseman, clearing and firing on that play, and he’s even built similarly. So that’s good news.

And 2 strong periods is nothing to sneeze at. They just need to tighten it up a bit on D. Those 3rd period goals were both kind of seeing-eye affairs. You’d like to see more pressure on the puck in both situations, and they might not even have gotten to Niemmi. But a point is a point.

Matthew

Hondr….step away from the liquor cabinet

DougW

This is the first time I’ve ever posted here, but I’ve been a sharks fan since the days of Mike Ricci and Owen Nolan. Unlike the current leaders, these guys gave it everything they had and were fun to watch even when they came up short. For my 2 cents I think the time has arrived to clean house and rebuild, and that includes getting a GM that knows how to build a team not just acquire players with better stats- a GM that would never have let go prospects like Coyle and players who care like Malhotra, McGinn and yes Shelley (who has more passion for the game in his little finger than Marleau has in his whole body and is an inspiration in the locker room). Marleau, Thornton and Boyle are like stock options. They have a time limit and they are going to expire worthless. Trade them now while they still have value and get some picks or prospects with passion and speed or grit and build a team that will be fun to watch – even if it loses.

Andy

Well it looks like the evil dissenter of Sharks hockey has been banned from the blog. Too bad that honest opinion and thoughts are not tolerated on this blog.

Pucky

Hondr…really? You are delusional. They had a 3-1 lead a have it up in less than 90 seconds. They couldn’t get the puck out of their zone…again. They played a crappy third period…again. This team has not had strong leadership in years. Their past success was purely skills based but they couldn’t get over hump (SC Finals) cuz they didn’t have the leadership or temperment to get it done. Nothings changed from a leadership perspective but now the talent level has slipped dramatically…bad combination!!

Matthew

I’m certain Hondr is being sarcastic and we are all too dim and too upset to realize it

motor city

Compared to his Det team getting shut out and embarrassed by the Jackets, he sees sugar coating in an OT loss from a 3-1 lead.

MikeR

@nemo31 –

switching goalies is often more about the rest of the team than the goalie.

Sharkz

I am at peace in the comfort of knowing that the San Jose Sharks are no longer a talented, underachieving team. It is what it is – and any dialogue to explain it otherwise is time we could be do something more useful with our time, which is pretty much anything.

MLBSF

If you think I was going to stay inside on a beautiful day to watch this garbage team, you’re out of your mind.

I’m not surprised they lost yet again. And I’m especially not surprised they took their foot off the gas pedal (like they always do when they get a bit of a lead), and skated only 40 minutes.

Maybe someone can tell me how many games the Sharks have blown over the past couple of years. I’m sure the total is shocking.

Finally, McLellan has completely lost his mind. Unless Niemi was having a medical problem, there is no excuse for pulling him for giving up three….I don’t care how quickly those final two and I don’t care whether it was Niemi’s fault at all.

I have just had it with this team. I’m sick of it.

dan

The one player on the team who is completely useless in every sense of the word is handzus!!! that was an awful signing by DW and has not paid off in any way from start to finish. The sharks need to find some way to trade him, but I doubt anyone will take him. He is slow and just completely useless. He doesnt even deserve to be on the 4th line.

MLBSF

@87

Well Hondr feels his Detroit team is usually too exhausted to play hockey because they have to play road games and so they were probably still too sleepy and that’s why they got shut out.

I’ll never forget the day Hondr said the Red Wings have lost out on many Stanley Cups (plural) because the NHL has the nerve to unjustly force them to play evening road games on the West Coast.

smh

dan

As far as im concerned anyone on the 3rd and 4th lines, plus demers and braun is fair trade bait if we can get some solid players in return. Its up to DW to make it happen

Bill

The Sharks have proven yet again that they are a poorly built franchise. DW had his chance but blew it with bad trades and acquisitions over the past 3 seasons. New ownership needs to clean house. Thankfully he has Robinson to carry the management role for the rest of this season.

SharksFanEst1994

Good effort from the Sharks tonight.

Doesn’t negate the fact that this is team is NOT a Cup contender. I’m thinking about this team long term. I have one goal and one goal only: TO WIN A STANLEY CUP.

Good regular season records are fun, like a good belly scratch, they feel good for the time being and are entertaining, but in the end don’t mean much.

In my mind, the Sharks should exist to accomplish one thing: WIN THE WHOLE GOD-DANG THING. Here’s how I think we do i!.

Step one: self awareness. We must acknowledge that this team is getting it done. We love ’em and know ’em and can relate to ’em and that’s all warm and fine and dandy. But I say screw that, we can’t win it all which means it’s time to move on!

Problem, the organization is full of nice people (like former Mayor Tom McEnery). I know and have met many of them on a personal basis (and I won’t tell you how). They are kind souls who care about their employees and their families. They are loathe to just dump people. WAKE UP CALL TO SHARKS ORG: WELCOME TO PROFESSIONAL SPORTS.

In this business, you need to be the a-hole who dumps the sweet smart girl for the hotter girl without anY explanation whatsoever. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THE KINDNESS OF THOSE WHO RUN THIS ORGANIZATION CONFLICTS WITH THEIR DUTY TO PUT THE BEST PRODUCT POSSIBLE ON THE ICE. In order for the Sharks to become Champs, they need to learn to dump the sweet girl without hesitation. And that means…

My first day as GM, I have a meeting with everyone, starting the the No Trade Clause guys. I tell them I’m blowing it up. I tell them they have two choices, play the remainder of your contract here with no support around you, or waive your no move clause and I’ll do the best I can to find you a competitive franchise to be traded to.

And I start with Joe Thornton. He’s so gone I can’t even tell you. Jumbo, you’ve given Sharks fans a lot to cheer for over the years, but to me you’re a perimeter player who (and yes I mean this) who never realized his full potential because you failed to do two things: a) shoot the damn puck, b) go to the slot. In any event, thank you for the memories, I’m sure we’ll hang your jersey in the rafters some day, and now you’ve been traded.

That’s right, a complete freaking roster gut job. Oh, but I don’t stop there, as far as the coaches go:

1. TMac: you’re gone. no rafters for you!
2. Woodcroft: gone (and preferably executed by lethal injection…just kidding, but he is such a creepy little dude isn’t he?)
2. L. Robinson: I try to keep him after this bloodbath
3. Johnson: I’m apathetic about him.

I’m sure you’re asking, ok bright guy, we’ve got 5 players and one coach, where do we go from here?

Great question: I start by hiring PHIL HOUSELY!

Who’s Phil Housley? I’m sure most of you know, but just in case, he’s a HOF defenseman.

But more relevant, he was coach of team USA at the World Junior Championships in January. Yep, the same team that won gold. But more important than the result was the beauty of his systems at that tournament. If you can find a way, go back and watch team USA. I fortunate enough to record every game. I sat in awe as I watched coach Housely transform these young men from a talented yet clueless group (that lost a few up front) into a squad that pounded the heavily gold-medal favored Team Canada (and all other opponents for that matter) into submission.

And it wasn’t that they won. It was the MANNER in which they won. I’ve never seen a more beautiful display of D and O playing harmoniously.

Bottom line, HOUSLEY CLEARLY KNOWS HOW GET THOSE MOST OUT OF D INVOLVEMENT. IF DOUG WILSON PAYS ATTENTION TO HOCKEY, HE SHOULD KNOW THAT HOUSLEY IS A STUD.

As for personnel? Well, above, I listed our starting blocks. I’m not saying that Couture and Sheppard will necessarily be our best players in 7 years. They may not even be Sharks. But we need to start somewhere. Where we build is through the draft. That’s the way it’s gonna be done in today’s salary cap world. And the Shark’s organization has shown a propensity for making wise picks.

I have one critique of drafting: we don’t draft enough Swedes. Going back to the World Juniors, over the last two years, look who’s at the top: TEAM SWEDEN!!

Now, I’m not saying we need to go Swede crazy, but we don’t draft these kids ever. And why not! The World Juniors are essentially the NHL All Stars of the future. Example, Nathan McKinnon, who’s projected as the potential #1 overall this year, was a 3rd liner for Team Canada. And Team Canada didn’t even medal!

If I’m Sharks GM, I’m taking a close look at these Swedish kids. After all, Swedish players seems to have worked for Detroit over the years (ahem, Lidstrom, Holmstrom, Zetterberg, Kronwall, etc). And now you’ve got kids like Jakub Silfverberg and Erik Karlsson lighting it up (BTW, seems like Ottawa’s gotten the Swedish message, and look at their improvement).

In any event, if you’ve had the patience to read this, much appreciated.

My overall message is this, as I’ve stated before, mediocrity is the devil. Mediocrity means your bad enough to lack Stanley Cup hopes, but you’re good enough to NOT get a top pick. LET’S NOT BE THAT. LET’S NOT BE THE CALGARY FLAMES. LET’S HOLD ONTO SOME YOUNG ASSETS, LET’S REALLY SUCK FOR TWO YEARS, LET’S DRAFT REALLY HIGH, LET’S BE OPEN MINDED TO SWEDES AND KIDS FROM PLACES OTHER THAN THE OTTAWA 67’S (AHEM, DOUG WILSON) AND LET’S HIRE A COACH WHO KNOWS HOW TO GET THE OFFENSE AND DEFENSE PLAYING FLUENTLY!!!

By the way Mr. Plattner, I have a job as an attorney right now, but it kind of sucks, so if you want to make me GM (or even assistant GM) I humbly accept :).

1994

Andy

93 Dan,

I really think anyone and everyone with the except of Cooch, Pavs and Niemi should be used a trade chips. The leadership of the team has been the problem for years, and that leadership remains the teams Achilles heel. Until golly geepers Joe, and sleepish Patty go or are solidly entrenched as 3rd or 4th line players the Sharks will go nowhere.

The biggest trade pieces the Sharks have that are not tied up in NMC, NTC are Vlasic, Demers or Braun, Clowe and Greiss, and all of them can go as far as I am concerned. I am sure Vlasic would bring some young playes, Demers and Braun a draft pick or two and Clowe combined with Greiss might get us a solid young 3rd liner.

MLBSF, Glad to see you were not banned.

Hockey Night in Milpitas

Kick Wilson upstairs and make Tim Burke the GM. Then let him trade away the old core, with their ok, for draft picks and prospects. Burke is excellent at drafting, as his picks are still in the league and playing well and helping teams, unfortunately not the Sharks because Trader Joe Wilson has played Monty Hall and gotten rid of them.

Build the team through the draft, and develop the kids, and eventually, they will have a young core that they can depend on for years.

Phil

Lisa @ 19 – You might be right, but one figures that TM’s not going to actually bench Thornton the way that Tortorella would staple Gaborik to the bench. Especially not now with how the Sharks are doing. I’ll take a look at the lineup later and let you know how the TOI turned out.

My general take on the game: It’s hard to criticize Nemo, but those last two goals were soft goals. Great shots but ones that an NHL goaltender should have had. On the second one, he was off his angle. On the third one, he thought the puck was going to move to his right, so he cheated that direction as he went down.

For what it’s worth, you could tell from his expression that Nemo knew he shouldn’t have let those two in. He knew Stalock was getting the nod.

I don’t know how much to judge Stalock. Not only was he fresh off the plane from Worcester, but he didn’t really take the warmup seriously. He barely provided any challenge during Last Puck — the second shot went in. Any goalie’s going to be cold after two and a half periods on the bench. He definitely looked nervous at the beginning, but improved as time went on. I thought the game winning goal might have been a soft one, but after I saw the replay once I got home, that was a sick deflection.

It seemed like he was afraid of losing the net. A couple of times during play, he turned his head to check where the net was.

On the plus side, I did like the way he communicated with the defense. It was interesting seeing him play here vs. the game I saw in Worcester.

Nothing else really jumped out at me for the limited amount of time he was on the ice. Except, perhaps, for a superstitious double tap of the butt end of his stick on the cross bar during stoppages.

On the other side of the ice, Allen looked awful. When I was yelling at him during the second, even the St. Louis Blues fan behind me agreed that he’d looked pretty awful. He lost the first two goals at his feet and we took advantage. If Halak was in net though, I honestly think the score would have ended 3-1.

To address an earlier bit, I’ll reinforce my earlier opinion that our system is much more like Vancouver’s than Chicago’s. Vancouver works the cycle down low. Chicago likes to work the puck high then low with an emphasis on deflections and timing plays.

You guys are going to start saying that I’m part of the PR department, but Clowe was great today. It’s not an accident that he was on the ice for those last two San Jose goals. He was great in front of the net and made that second goal happen when he kicked the puck over to his left. That confused Allen. He went to his right and left the net open for the tap in.

Also, a second goal from Gomez?! For the guy that had this written about him: